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You?ve got a good thing going
Does the new Skoda Superb, priced at Rs 23.45 lakh, have enough pulling power to draw buyers away.
In the early 1930’s the then President of Czechoslovakia asked Skoda Auto to build a car for him. Many man-hours and a sizeable investment later Skoda came out with a top-of-the line luxury car – the Superb. That was in 1934. Seventy years later the model makes it appearance in India that is if you disregard the two intrepid motorists who drove down from Prague to Calcutta in their superbly crafted Skoda Superb in the 1930s. Both the car and the consumer have come a long way since then and what the company rolled out recently was quite an astonishing piece of machinery, aptly named Superb.
At first sight the Teutonic influences are obvious. A low stance with a muscular front end, which hints at untamed power beneath the long flowing bonnet. The Superb measures in at 4.8 metres in length, much bigger than most of the D segment offerings and sits on a long wheelbase of 2.8 mm (the B5 platform which comes from the VW group). Leg and shoulder room is enormous and so is the feeling of space and limo-like comfort of the rear seats. The rear doors too are one of the biggest and make ingress and egress a breeze. The Superb doesn’t lack in style or comforts. Wood, leather and chrome garnish add upmarket touches.
Individual air-conditioning and a steering with a multifunction button enables you to call for a huge amount of information on the instrument panel. But it’s attention to detail on which the car scores. A thoughtful touch is the compartment on the rear left hand door,with an electric button, which holds an umbrella, and in case you tuck in a wet one there are channels within to funnel the water out. The Bi-Xenon lamps have an integrated washer, which sprays a jet of water to clean the lens at the press of a button – handy during the rainy season. The driver’s seat comes with electric adjustments and a memory button to store up to three driver settings. The Superb is powered by a 190 horsepower, 2.8 litre, V6 petrol engine, mated to a five-speed tiptronic gearbox, allowing a choice of manual and auto mode. The rock-steady dynamics of the car at highway speeds ensures comfort but performance and safety as well.
With six airbags and an array of active safety devices like ABS and traction control, the Superb is more than prepared for any eventuality. Priced at Rs 23.45 lakh in Delhi, does the well-crafted machine have enough pulling power to draw buyers away from their Mercs and BMWs? The Skoda brand, unfortunately, falls, a wee bit short in terms of brand equity.
